GFX Issue With 3XS Rig - New PSU?

[Rufass]

Hi,

I have an old-ish 3XS PC which I have been very pleased with, over the 3+ years I have had it I've upgraded the GFX card, added an SSD and an additional 1tb HDD. Until this weekend it was spot on and giving performance that was all I could hope for from a desktop.

Last weekend a strange issue with the graphics surfaced. Basically it seems to be displaying only a limited colour palette (256?) and limited effects though all settings in control panel, Nvidia etc. indicate it should be true colour. Perhaps more tellingly, the glitchy graphics show from BIOS boot. I am struggling to isolate the issue due to recently finally finding folks willing to take old monitors and graphics cards off my hands. So I haven't been able to try any different hardware configurations, though I have uninstalled and reinstalled the graphics card. I guess it is down to either the graphics card itself, the monitor or the power supply.

I've seen a number of forum posts that point in the direction of the PSU. Also I am struggling to see how a monitor would exhibit this issue and the graphics card is less than 6 months old.

I tried the ASUS recommended power supply website and put in my specs:
Core i7 920
MSI Frozr GTX560 TI
6GB DDR3 RAM
1 x SSD
2 x HDD
1 x PCI soundcard
1 x PCI WiFi card
3-4 x Fan

The PSU in fromn the original build is a Corsair TX620. The website suggests that the recommended PSU for my system is 650 so I guess that those graphics card upgrades and adding to the number of storage devices have pushed up to, if not over, the demands of my system.

I am leaning towards just buying a new PSU and hoping that's the cause. It seems the most likely suspect, is cheaper than the other components and is probably under-specced anyway by the looks of it. I am fairly dependent on this machine so cannot really hang about too much.

Can anyone recommend any further checks? Confirm or confound my suspicions and conclusions? Recommend a new PSU and wattage? If I went for a modular Corsair replacement could I leave the cabling in place and just swap out the PSU?

Thanks in advance.

Rufus

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Rufus

It sounds more like the VGA drivers have you installed the latest ones off Nvidias website for the card?

The 620 Watt PSU should be more than enough as we have systems using 600 Watts and 560 cards in

If you decide to put a different PSU in dont use the same cables as they are all wired differently and you will more than likely blow the PSU

Regards

Ben

[Rufass]

Hi Rufus

It sounds more like the VGA drivers have you installed the latest ones off Nvidias website for the card?

The 620 Watt PSU should be more than enough as we have systems using 600 Watts and 560 cards in

If you decide to put a different PSU in dont use the same cables as they are all wired differently and you will more than likely blow the PSU

Regards

Ben

Hi Ben,

I have uninstalled the card and deleted the drivers a couple of times, I have also downloaded and installed the latest Nvidia drivers from their website, made no difference. If I could I would try the card in another PC or at least try my old card in the PC but I don't have that option at the moment.

Are the Corsair PSUs all wired differently? What I was wondering is could I buy a new Corsair PSU (slightly higher watt?) and bang it in as a replacement or do I need to re-wire the thing just to be on the safe side?

With regards to the load on the PSU, I guess it depends what else is drawing power. According to ASUS' website 650 is the recommended minimum for me with what I have in the machine currently. As you can see I have 4 drives and a couple of PCI devices too.

[Rufass]

If I found and used some of the original order numbers (PC, SSD etc.) and re-posted in the aftersales forum would that help get a response?

[jimcuk]

If I found and used some of the original order numbers (PC, SSD etc.) and re-posted in the aftersales forum would that help get a response?

Rufass does you're motherboard have on board graphics if so you could test your monitor that way,
really the quickest next test is to borrow a monitor and rule that out first.
James

[Rufass]

Rufass does you're motherboard have on board graphics if so you could test your monitor that way,
really the quickest next test is to borrow a monitor and rule that out first.
James

Cheers James. I managed to dig out an old cable and test using an old monitor that only had a VGA input. Looks like it was the monitor after all, never had one go before but it looks like the pixels aren't displaying the full range of colours. Ordered a new one from Amazon.